2008 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania

The 2008 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania was part of the 2008 United States presidential election, which took place on November 4, 2008, throughout all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Voters chose 21 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Pennsylvania was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama by a 10 % margin of victory. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise considered as a safe blue state. Although the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had voted for the Democratic presidential nominee in every election since 1992, the margins of victory had become smaller over the past elections, as was highlighted in 2004 when John Kerry won Pennsylvania by a slim margin of 2 %. Since George W. Bush came relatively close to winning the state in 2004, and because Obama had lost the Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton by nearly 10% in April 2008, many analysts believed that Republican presidential nominee John McCain had a decent shot at winning Pennsylvania in the general election. Nevertheless, Pennsylvania remained blue and gave Obama 54 % of the vote to McCain's 44 %, a margin of 10 %. It was the first time since 1996 in which Pennsylvania was the most Republican of the three Rust Belt swing states (including Wisconsin and Michigan). As of the 2024 election, this is the last time that the counties of Berks, Cambria, Carbon, and Elk voted for a Democrat in a presidential election.